The mission of the Synthetic Organic Chemistry Core (SOCC) is: 1) to provide a cost-efficient on-campus facility with expertise in synthesis of defined chemical D.M.A. lesions unavailable elsewhere or prohibitively expensive commercially, as well as other unavailable organic molecules and bioconjugates for biological and medical research; and 2) to reduce costs for this service by sharing these resources and their maintenance campus-wide among several research groups who use the facility. Equipment maintenance is performed daily by trained and qualified personnel at minimal costs to researchers through charge-back fees for services. The SOCC was initiated to study and develop new methods and protocols for the synthesis of modified nucleosides representing known DNA damage, and for conversion of these nucleosides into phosphoramidites which can be conveniently and site-specifically incorporated into synthetic DNA sequences. The SOCC also develops methods for incorporating lesion sites into oligonucleotides via post-synthesis methods and protocols for purifying and analyzing these defined products. The synthetic organic services provided have also been adapted and expanded over the past five years to accommodate a growing need for synthesis and purification of other small molecules and bioconjugates that are of interest to biomedical researchers at UTMB and elsewhere. This area of synthesis continues to grow rapidly with the expansion of the Biotransformation Research Core and the development of the Oxidative Stress and Signaling Research Core.